Method of producing packing body

ABSTRACT

A method of producing a packing body includes the steps of: stacking a plurality of packaging bodies, placing reinforcing sheet materials so as to wrap outer peripheries of side surfaces of the packaging bodies that have been stacked, and fastening the packaging bodies that have been stacked by placing a fastening band from an outer side of the reinforcing sheet materials. The placing step includes placing the reinforcing sheet materials on the side surfaces of the packaging bodies to protrude an end portions of the reinforcing sheet material from an upper surface of a packaging body in an uppermost layer and from a lower surface of a packaging body in a lowermost layer. The fastening step includes bending the end portions, covering an edge portion of each packaging body, and placing the fastening band on the edge portions with the reinforcing sheet materials interposed therebetween.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of producing a packing body inwhich a plurality of packaging bodies, such as paper boxes and vinylpackages, are packed together in a transportable form.

BACKGROUND ART

For example, paper products, such as toilet paper and tissue, areprovided in the form of, for example, one roll or one box, each of whichis a retail unit; and, when these are to be transported, a predeterminednumber of rolls or box bodies are packed together, and many products aremade transportable at one time.

In general, many packaging bodies, such as cardboard boxes, are stackedon a pallet and formed into a packing body; and loading portions of, forexample, a forklift are joined to the pallet to transport the manypackaging bodies together with the pallet. When the packing body inwhich the plurality of packaging bodies are put together reaches apredetermined location, the pallet is subjected to operations such asseparating the pallet from the packing body and recovering it forrepeated use.

There exists a packing body in which many packaging bodies are stackedand packed so as to be transportable by using, for example, a forkliftand without using the aforementioned pallet (refer to, for example,Patent Literature 1). In this packing body, parallelepiped packageshaving a certain size are stacked in multiple layers, and a plurality offastening bands are wound around and secured to an outer periphery ofthis stack. In order to make it possible to insert the forks of theforklift, for example, at a position above two layers from a lowestlayer where packaging bodies are stacked, a recessed portion or a spaceis provided at a side surface of the packing body.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

[PTL 1] Japanese Patent No. 2596855

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

Since an existing packing body has such a structure described above, forexample, the fastening bands directly contact the packaging bodiesdisposed at edge portions of the packing body. Therefore, when thepackaging bodies are stacked and tightly fastened by using, for example,the fastening bands, or when the packing body is lifted and moved byusing a forklift or the like, for example, the fastening bands aredriven into packaging bodies that are disposed at positions where theedges of the packing body are disposed, or concentration of stress loador the like on the packing body causes the packaging bodies disposed atthe above-described positions to be damaged.

In view of the above-described problems, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide a method of producing a packing body that preventsstacked packaging bodies from becoming damaged at a low cost.

Solution to Problem

A method of producing a packing body according to the present inventionincludes the steps of; stacking a plurality of packaging bodies, eachhaving an upper surface, a lower surface, and a side surface; placing areinforcing sheet material so as to wrap outer peripheries of the sidesurfaces of the packaging bodies that have been stacked; and fasteningthe packaging bodies that have been stacked by placing a fastening bandfrom an outer side of the reinforcing sheet material. The step ofplacing a reinforcing sheet material includes placing the reinforcingsheet material on the side surfaces of the packaging bodies to protrudean end portion of the reinforcing sheet material from an upper surfaceof a packaging body in an uppermost layer and to protrude an end portionof the reinforcing sheet material from a lower surface of a packagingbody in a lowermost layer, and the step of fastening the packagingbodies that have been stacked includes bending the end portion of thereinforcing sheet material that protrudes from the upper surface of thepackaging body in the uppermost layer and the end portion of thereinforcing sheet material that protrudes from the lower surface of thepackaging body in the lowermost layer towards a side of an upper surfaceof the uppermost layer and towards a side of a lower surface of thelowermost layer, respectively, covering an edge portion of eachpackaging body, and placing the fastening band on the edge portions withthe reinforcing sheet material interposed therebetween.

The reinforcing sheet material includes an upper reinforcing sheetmaterial that covers the packaging body in the uppermost layer and alower reinforcing sheet material that covers the packaging body in thelowermost layer.

The step of stacking a plurality of packaging bodies includes disposingside by side packaging bodies that form a small-width layer above thelowermost layer and forming a groove-shaped space that does not preventinsertion and removal of a fork of a forklift, and the step of fasteningthe packaging bodies that have been stacked includes placing thereinforcing sheet material at a position that does not cover thegroove-shaped space.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent damage topackaging bodies that are disposed at an outer peripheral portion of thepacking body, in particular, at edge portions of an upper end and alower end of the packing body, and to transport the packaging bodieswith their appearance shapes being protected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a packing body produced by using amethod of producing a packing body according to an example of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a state in which a plurality ofpackaging bodies of the packing body of FIG. 1 are stacked.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a step of covering the packaging bodiesof FIG. 2 with an upper reinforcing sheet and a lower reinforcing sheet.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a state in which the stacked packagingbodies are covered with the upper reinforcing sheet and the lowerreinforcing sheet.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the invention is described below.

Examples

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a packing body produced by using amethod of producing a packing body according to an example of thepresent invention.

In an illustrated packing body 1, for example, 23 packaging bodies 10are stacked, and are fastened by using a plurality of fastening bands12. An upper reinforcing sheet 13 is placed on four packaging bodies 10that are disposed in an uppermost layer, and a lower reinforcing sheet14 is placed on four packaging bodies 10 that are disposed in alowermost layer. In the method of producing a packing body according tothe present invention, the number of packaging bodies to be packed isnot limited to the aforementioned number of packaging bodies.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a state in which the plurality ofpackaging bodies 10 of the packing body 1 of FIG. 1 are stacked. Thepackaging bodies 10 are, for example, paper boxes that contain a fewhundred tissues, or resin packages, such as vinyl chloride packages,that accommodate a plurality of toilette paper rolls; and have shapesincluding an upper surface, a lower surface, and side surfaces.

The packaging bodies 10 exemplified here have a parallelepiped shapehaving an upper surface and a lower surface formed by long sides andshort sides, or a substantially parallelepiped shape.

The four packaging bodies 10 in the lowermost layer in FIG. 2 aredisposed side by side such that long sides of adjacent boxes or shortsides of adjacent boxes contact each other, or such that the packagingbodies 10 are uniformly aligned in a longitudinal direction thereof.

For example, three packaging bodies 10 in a small-width layer arestacked on the upper surfaces of the four packaging bodies 10 in thelowermost layer. The three packaging bodies 10 are disposed side by sidesuch that they are orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the fourpackaging bodies 10 below (in the lowermost layer), that is, such thatthe orientations of the three packaging bodies 10 are rotated by 90degrees, and edge portions of the packaging bodies 10 in thelongitudinal direction are adjacent to each other. That is, in a layerdirectly above the lowermost layer, the three packaging bodies 10 aredisposed side by side so as to form the small-width layer whose width issmaller than that of the lowermost layer.

Similarly to the above-described lowermost layer, four packaging bodies10 are stacked on the upper surfaces of the three packaging bodies 10,which are disposed side by side so as to form the small-width layer, soas to be aligned in the longitudinal direction of the four packagingbodies 10. Further, for example, three more layers in which fourpackaging bodies are similarly disposed side by side are stackedthereupon.

For example, along the longitudinal direction of the lowermost layer,above longitudinal edges of the packaging bodies 10 that are disposedside by side in the lowermost layer, the packing body 1 shown in eachfigure includes the small-width layer such that recessed portions opensideways.

For example, the forks of a forklift are inserted into the recessedportions, and the packing body 1 that is fastened tightly by thefastening bands 12 as shown in FIG. 1 is transportable by the forklift.

The above-described recessed portions are spaces 12 that are formed bythe small-width layer and the layers that are stacked above and belowthe small-width layer. The recessed portions are provided at twoopposing side surfaces of the packing body 1, and have sizes that allowthe forks of the forklift to be freely inserted and removed.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a step of covering the packaging bodies10 of FIG. 2 with the upper reinforcing sheet 13 and the lowerreinforcing sheet 14.

The upper reinforcing sheet 13 and the lower reinforcing sheet 14 aresheet materials that are the same, and are, for example, pieces of kraftpaper made in the form of a belt and capable of being placed along andsurrounding outer peripheral surfaces of the packaging bodies 10disposed side by side as described above without, for example, flapprocessing. For the upper reinforcing sheet 13 and the lower reinforcingsheet 14, a suitable sheet material is one having flexibility thatallows it to wrap the packaging bodies 10 along the shape of thepackaging bodies 10; having surfaces provided with a proper tension;and, when subjected to, for example, an external force, capable ofdispersing the external force along, for example, the surfaces withoutbeing torn.

The upper reinforcing sheet 13 is, for example, placed so as to wrapouter peripheries of the side surfaces of the packaging bodies 10 thatare disposed side by side in the uppermost layer mentioned above. Atthis time, an upper end portion of the upper reinforcing sheet 13 in alateral direction protrudes above the upper surfaces of the packagingbodies 10 like a turned-up collar.

Specifically, a lower portion of the belt-shaped upper reinforcing sheet13 is, for example, wound so as to wrap the outer peripheries of thepackaging bodies 10 disposed side by side in the uppermost layer; and,for example, both end portions of the upper reinforcing sheet 13 in thelongitudinal direction are bonded with an adhesive so as to form a ringshape.

At this time, in order to prevent the upper reinforcing sheet 13 fromfalling off from the outer peripheries of the packaging bodies 10disposed side by side in the same layer (the uppermost layer), the outerperipheries of the packaging bodies 10 disposed side by side are tightenup by a proper amount, and the upper reinforcing sheet 13 is bonded soas to form the ring shape.

The lower reinforcing sheet 14 is, for example, placed so as to wrapouter peripheries of the side surfaces of the packaging bodies 10disposed side by side in the lowermost layer of the packing body 1.

At this time, a lower end portion of the lower reinforcing sheet 14 inthe lateral direction protrudes below the lower surfaces of thepackaging bodies 10 so as to appear like wearing a skirt.

Specifically, a lower portion of the belt-shaped lower reinforcing sheet14 is wound so as to wrap the outer peripheries of the packaging bodies10 disposed side by side in the lowermost layer; and, for example, bothend portions of the lower reinforcing sheet 14 in the longitudinaldirection are bonded with, for example, an adhesive so as to form a ringshape.

At this time, in order to prevent the lower reinforcing sheet 14 fromfalling off from the outer peripheries of the packaging bodies 10disposed side by side in the lowermost layer, the outer peripheries ofthe packaging bodies 10 disposed side by side are tighten up by a properamount, and the lower reinforcing sheet 14 is bonded so as to form thering shape.

When the reinforcing sheets are to be placed on the packing body 1 (thestacked packaging bodies 10), in particular, when the lower reinforcingsheet 14 is to be placed on the outer peripheries of the side surfacesof the packaging bodies 10, the placement is performed such that theaforementioned spaces 11 are not covered by the lower reinforcing sheet14, that is, an upper end portion of the lower reinforcing sheet 14 ispositioned so as not to protrude above the upper surfaces of thepackaging bodies 10 in the layer below the spaces 11.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a state in which the stacked packagingbodies 10 are covered with the upper reinforcing sheet 13 and the lowerreinforcing sheet 14.

The aforementioned protruding portion of the upper reinforcing sheet 13that is turned up like a collar is bent so as to contact the uppersurfaces of the packaging bodies 10 disposed side by side in theuppermost layer or so as to cover the upper surfaces thereof.

By such bending, upper edge portions of the outer peripheries of thepackaging bodies 10 disposed side by side in the uppermost layer (forexample, an upper edge portion of the packing body 1 or corners of anuppermost portion of the packing body 1) are covered by the upperreinforcing sheet 13. The protruding portion of the lower reinforcingsheet 14 that appears like wearing a skirt is bent so as to contact thelower surfaces of the packaging bodies 10 disposed side by side in thelowermost layer or so as to cover the lower surfaces thereof.

By such bending, lower edge portions of the outer peripheries of thepackaging bodies 10 disposed side by side in the lowermost layer (forexample, a lower edge portion of the packing body 1 or corners of alowermost portion of the packing body 1) are covered by the lowerreinforcing sheet 14.

After covering the stacked packaging bodies 10 with the upperreinforcing sheet 13 and the lower reinforcing sheet 14 as shown in FIG.4, the plurality of fastening bands 12 are placed therearound to tightlyfasten them as shown in FIG. 1.

The plurality of fastening bands 12 are placed around an outer peripheryof the packing body 1 in the longitudinal direction and an outerperiphery of the packing body 1 in the lateral direction so as to formeach fastening band 12 in ring shape. That is, the fastening bands 12are placed around an upper surface and a lower surface of the packingbody 1 so as to intersect each other in the form of a lattice.

When the fastening bands 12 are placed around the packing body 1 in thisway, the fastening bands 12 are provided on the surfaces of the upperreinforcing sheet 13 and the surfaces of the lower reinforcing sheet 14,so that a fastening force that is applied to a bent corner portion ofeach packaging body 10, which corresponds to the edge portions of thepacking body 1, is dispersed via the upper reinforcing sheet 13 and thelower reinforcing sheet 14.

Therefore, it is possible to suppress damage to, in particular, forexample, the bent corner portions of the packaging bodies 10, whichcorrespond to the edge portions of the packing body 1, and to reduce theweight of package materials and boxes that form the packaging bodies 10.Even if the packaging bodies 10 are made of light paper materials orresin package materials, such as vinyl, it is possible to prevent damageduring, for example, transport, and to reduce the weight of the packingbody 1.

In order to disperse a fastening force, a suitable type of fasteningband 12 is a large-width type because the contact area with the upperreinforcing sheet 13 and that with the lower reinforcing sheet 14 areincreased.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   -   1 packing body    -   10 packaging body    -   11 space    -   12 fastening band    -   13 upper reinforcing sheet    -   14 lower reinforcing sheet

1. A method of producing a packing body comprising the steps of:stacking a plurality of packaging bodies, each having an upper surface,a lower surface, and side surfaces; placing a reinforcing sheet materialso as to wrap outer peripheries of the side surfaces of the packagingbodies that have been stacked; and fastening the packaging bodies thathave been stacked by placing a fastening band from an outer side of thereinforcing sheet material, wherein the step of placing a reinforcingsheet material includes placing the reinforcing sheet material on theside surfaces of the packaging bodies such that an end portion of thereinforcing sheet material protrudes from an upper surface of apackaging body in an uppermost layer and such that an end portion of thereinforcing sheet material protrudes from a lower surface of a packagingbody in a lowermost layer, and wherein the step of fastening thepackaging bodies that have been stacked includes bending the end portionof the reinforcing sheet material that protrudes from the upper surfaceof the packaging body in the uppermost layer and the end portion of thereinforcing sheet material that protrudes from the lower surface of thepackaging body in the lowermost layer towards a side of an upper surfaceof the uppermost layer and towards a side of a lower surface of thelowermost layer, respectively, covering an edge portion of eachpackaging body, and placing the fastening band on the edge portions withthe reinforcing sheet material interposed therebetween.
 2. The method ofproducing a packing body according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcingsheet material includes an upper reinforcing sheet material that coversthe packaging body in the uppermost layer and a lower reinforcing sheetmaterial that covers the packaging body in the lowermost layer.
 3. Themethod of producing a packing body according to claim 1, wherein thestep of stacking a plurality of packaging bodies includes disposing sideby side packaging bodies that form a small-width layer above thelowermost layer and forming a groove-shaped space that does not preventinsertion and removal of a fork of a forklift, and the step of fasteningthe packaging bodies that have been stacked includes placing thereinforcing sheet material at a position that does not cover thegroove-shaped space.
 4. The method of producing a packing body accordingto claim 2, wherein the step of stacking a plurality of packaging bodiesincludes disposing side by side packaging bodies that form a small-widthlayer above the lowermost layer and forming a groove-shaped space thatdoes not prevent insertion and removal of a fork of a forklift, and thestep of fastening the packaging bodies that have been stacked includesplacing the reinforcing sheet material at a position that does not coverthe groove-shaped space.